Robertson:
Gays And Lesbians Are “Self-Absorbed Hedonists ... That Want to Impose Their
Particular Sexuality on the Rest of America”

On November 30, Reverend Pat Robertson described gays and
lesbians as “self-absorbed hedonists ... that want to impose their
particular sexuality on the rest of America.” Later in the same edition of
the Christian Broadcasting Network’s (CBN) The 700 Club, Robertson, host and
Christian Coalition of America founder, remarked that it’s “just absurd”
that the current U.S. Supreme Court “ruled that homosexuality is a
constitutionally protected right.” Robertson was referring to a June 26,
2003, 6-3* ruling in the Lawrence v.
Texas case that the Texas statute “making it a crime for two persons
of the same sex to engage in certain intimate sexual conduct” is
unconstitutional. Robertson incorrectly claimed that the court ruled 5-4 on
the case.

During the news report segment of the November 30 700
Club, Robertson stated:

Before we
get into the legalities of this whole thing [same-sex marriage] and what the
[U.S.] Supreme Court did, I’d like to show you what Jesus said. I think
his word, in my opinion, the final word on it. In Matthew, he [Jesus] said
this ...”‘Haven’t you read,’ he [Jesus] replied, ‘that at the
beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female,’”— I want to
emphasize that male and female. And he [Jesus] says, “‘For this reason a
man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two
will become one flesh’ [Matthew 19:1-5, New International Version].”

Now that,
ladies and gentlemen, is the basis of marriage. It is male-female, not male
and male, not female and female. It is male and female. There is no way that
two women can reproduce. There’s no way that two men can reproduce. The
whole concept of marriage is to bring forth a godly seed, to bring forth
children who will grow up to serve the Lord.

That’s
what marriage is about and it is about nothing else. It has nothing to do
with these hedonists, self-absorbed hedonists, if you will, that want to
impose their particular sexuality on the rest of America. They don’t need
marriage because marriage was the protection of men and women, male and
female, for the bringing forth of children. That’s what it’s about,
nothing else, bottom line. And if America goes the other way we will be
flying directly in the face of the clear word of the Bible.

[...]

ROBERTSON:
I can’t see this current [U.S. Supreme] court, who’s already ruled that
homosexuality is a constitutionally protected right—which is just
absurd—but they ruled that, 5 to 4. How will they rule otherwise in
relation to marriage?

Robertson’s words echoed those of former Republican
candidate for the U.S. Senate in Illinois, Alan Keyes. On August 30, while
being interviewed at the Republican National Convention, Keyes stated that
gays and lesbians, including Vice President Dick Cheney’s daughter Mary, are
“selfish hedonists.” According to a September 2 New York Times report, a
spokesman for Vice President Dick Cheney said Keyes’s statements were
“inappropriate.”

* Media Matters originally wrote that the ruling
was 5-4, as Robertson had claimed. In fact, the court ruled 6-3.